Korea Investment CORP Lowers Position in Thomson Reuters Co. $TRI

Korea Investment CORP cut its stake in shares of Thomson Reuters Co. (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,944 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 11,178 shares during the period. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Thomson Reuters were worth $12,882,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TRI. AGF Management Ltd. increased its stake in Thomson Reuters by 186.8% in the 3rd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 870,312 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $135,592,000 after buying an additional 566,908 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,485,000. Profund Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,061,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,015,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Thomson Reuters in the third quarter valued at approximately $10,117,000. 17.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Thomson Reuters Price Performance

Thomson Reuters stock opened at $103.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 5.67 and a beta of 0.81. Thomson Reuters Co. has a one year low of $79.71 and a one year high of $218.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $107.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $135.32.

Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) (TSE:TRI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The business services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. Thomson Reuters had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 30.45%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Thomson Reuters Co. will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Thomson Reuters Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.655 per share. This is a boost from Thomson Reuters’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Thomson Reuters’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TRI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets set a $165.00 price target on Thomson Reuters in a report on Friday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley set a $116.00 price objective on Thomson Reuters in a research note on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $111.00 target price on Thomson Reuters and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $160.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group reduced their price target on shares of Thomson Reuters from $174.00 to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Thomson Reuters currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $151.42.

Thomson Reuters Company Profile

Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) is a multinational information and media company that provides content, technology and services to professionals in the legal, tax & accounting, compliance, risk, corporate and media sectors. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, the company combines news and editorial content from the Reuters news agency with specialist workflow platforms and databases designed to support decision-making and regulatory compliance across industries worldwide.

The company’s product portfolio spans legal research and workflow tools, tax and accounting software, regulatory and risk management solutions, and real-time news and data services.